We’ve all been embarrassed by our moms.

Especially as kids.

But in this story, mom hasn’t grown out of her embarrassing habits.

Let’s see what’s up with this parental faux pas.

Parent turned up unannounced at my work.

I’m establishing a boundary for the first time ever with my parent and I don’t know if I did it right.

I am 25f my parent is 62f.

For some context, my family has been going through a lot of stress and drama that follow the themes of family member deaths, mental health emergencies, and multiple health scares.

Stressful for sure. How’s everybody dealing?

I have mostly moved out, living on my own since May 2024.

My mother (the 62f) showed up today at my office at 12:45 pm.

I was still on lunch.

She did not call me, she did not text me, she gave me no warning that she would be showing up.

OK, so mom is being a little intrusive but how will OP react?

(For more context my place of employment is an hour’s drive from my mother.)

My supervisor actually had to text me. “Hey, someone said your mom is here?”

My heart fell into my feet.

I clocked my pulse through my smartwatch at a peak of 144 bpm.

I thought for sure another family member had died or been hospitalized, and she was here to tell me as such.

Eesh. Embarrassing and panic-inducing. But what does mom really want?

She sees me and says, “Everything’s fine, I was in the area for a doctor’s appointment and wanted to take you to dinner.”

I still had 3.5 hours left in my work day, so I walked her out the door, literal stress tears in my eyes (so freaking embarrassing) and said, “I will not be off work until x o clock.”

Yeah, kinda unprofessional mom. But will OP take it too far?

She came back to my office when I got off work, and I told her these words verbatim.

Me : “This is not okay, you can’t just show up.”

Mom: “Come in the car and talk to me, I know. I’m sorry, I would be upset if my mom did this to me- where do you want to go? (To eat)”

Me: “I’m going to go home – I will see you at the funeral.” ( my father’s mother that is upcoming next week).

Oh gosh, so much stress! Mom can’t feel good about this…

She quietly said, “Okay.” I could tell she was about to cry, and was very disappointed.

I. feel. Terrible.

Neither does she. I get it.

I cried on the drive all the way home, but I couldn’t sit and have dinner with her just because it was convenient for her.

God I feel so guilty.

I didn’t want to make my mother cry.

I almost called my therapist because I was so distraught with myself.

But I’ve calmed down.

And decided to ask internet strangers for their opinion instead.

Solid move.

Guilt sucks, but so do invasive relationships.

What do our comments think?

This person says mom’s not following the golden rule.

Someone else says, tell your therapist.

Here’s another poster that’s like, golden rule much?

Another poster says NTA but you can still extend an olive branch.

This poster says, her tears? Not your problem.

Mom guilt is real, but it doesn’t have to rule your life.

It’s time for this girl to move on.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.